Ok, I know, technically, that the folks at Britaannica can’t really be expected to work for free. And I know a great deal of work goes on at all sorts of levels to make Britannica, both paper and electronic, a reputable and useable resource. I know that $5/month is not alot of money.
But I loved Britannica being free. It was so sweet, such a good resource to use in settling points of fact here on the SDMB. So easy to use, so reliable. Such a simple way to establish a baseline of “fact” for a debate. So good for verifing a simple fact quickly.
Someday, when I am old, I shall tell my grandchildren about the good old days when the most incredible things on the internet were free. Slow, but free.
I am going to go mourn now. I have gotten really spoiled.
This is a sad thing. I remember when they first announced they were going the free-access route, and their site promptly spent the next week or so offline because of the sheer number of people piling on to use it (or rather, trying to). I was among them.
I haven’t really got the heart to rant at them for taking it away…I mean, encyclopedias cost money–how much did they use to charge for the old 30 volume sets on paper, anyway? a lot, I’m thinking–and I guess it was too much to ask for that it stay free forever. But I miss it.
It was like a crafty drug dealer, telling all us information junkies “Hey, have some on me. This is the good shit, man–we’re talkin’ pure Britannica here–go on, man, all you want for free.” Then, when they’ve got us good and hooked, they take it away. Sure, it’s only $5 a month now–pretty soon, though, you’ll be seeing infojunkies out robbing convenience stores and selling their bodies on street corners to support their “Big B” habits.
I agree it’s sad (but not surprising) they dropped the free route. I personally saw it as a truly momentous event in human history, that anyone with a 'net connection could have free access to all that info.
Imagine some time in the not so far future, when people have portable devices like cell phones that can easily and cheaply access the internet and all its resources. The vast majority of questions a person might have any moment could be answered in seconds. I find that an amazing thought, and now that Brittanica isn’t free I think we went a little backwards from that goal.
I tried to work for them when I first moved out here, and after some initially positive talks it came out they were experiencing SEVERE financial problems - I think they laid off about 30% of their staff.
I could have worked in the Temple of Knowledge…
I coulda been a contender. Well, maybe I should send them my resume again.
